Villa tried to offer Grealish to Real Madrid

Jack Grealish was Pep Guardiola's latest signing during his spell at Man City. With that deal, the club exceeded 1 billion euros spent since the Spaniard's arrival in Manchester, however Aston Villa held everything back until the last moment.

According to what daily 'The Athletic' have found out, Aston Villa didn't want Grealish to stay in the Premier League in order to try and avoid facing him as an opponent of another team. Thart source reports that the club were searching for other solutions.

One of these was to offer the player to Real Madrid in a half desperate attempt. However, those in the Spanish capital rejected the proposal. Among other reasons was Villa's asking price of around 100 million euros, which Madrid were unwilling to match.

Eventually, City's offer of 118 million became too tempting to turn down, as the side from Birmingham filled up their accounts. Grealish did end up backing his bags but travelled only as far as Manchester, where he will continue his career at the elite level of English football.